Posts Tagged ‘CO’

On a fine spring day, Jane and I decide to have an adventure and climb Seal Rock. The East Face is a classic climb and goes at 5.4. It has a 45 minute approach hike, which is sure to warm up the circulation as there is ~800 ft of gain from the parking lot. The climb is typical flatiron sandstone with some sections of run out. Bring lots of slings (I had 17 shoulder sized slings and 2 double lengths) to reduce rope drag. Also, I suggest doubles of #1 and #2 sized BD cams, for anchors. I brought a #3 and a #4, but I’d say the #4 is optional.

On Friday, I met up with Laura for my training run at Green Mountain. She ran with me for the first couple hours of my run, so it was great to have company. We met fairly late in the day, so the snow was already beginning to soften. By the end of our first loop (8 ish miles), it was turning to slush.

During my second loop, the trail had devolved into full on slush with rivulets of mud sliding underneath the snow. I got very wet and muddy as the day continue to warm up. I was running a bit too fast down a steep grade and I fell and landed in the mud. Bits of ice cold mud and water splashed up over my head and dripped down my sunglasses. The entire right side of my body, coated in a thin layer of mud. Thankfully, with nothing other than an abrasion on my leg and palm, I continued back to the car.

At the end of my second loop, I decided I had enough of the slush and opted to finish the last 3 miles by running on the paved bike path. Being on a firm surface allowed me to finish my 4.5 hour excursion with some fast miles and it felt good to open the throttle at the end.

Jane, Dennis, and I met up to go for a nice hike up to and around Mt. Galbraith. It was a snowy winter day. When we got to the trail head, we saw that the trail was packed so we decided to leave the snowshoes in the car. It took us a couple hours to hike the ~6 miles, at a really nice mellow pace. The clouds were fairly low, but we still had some nice views of Golden and Lookout Mountain. I really enjoyed the hike of Mt. Galbraith; it’s proximity to Golden, convenient trail head, good signage, and nice views.

I dropped Dennis off at Winter Park resort and then I went Cross Country skiing at YMCA of the Rockies, Snow Mountain Ranch. It was a fantastic day for skiing. I used mostly green wax with a tiny bit of blue extra.

The only time running on pavement is acceptable is when it’s covered with snow!

I love running in the snow. It cushions the blow to the joints, it doesn’t make you wet, and the blanket of snow makes the world quiet. This President’s Day, I had a 90 minute training run on the schedule. I had a lovely time on the Platte River trail and then ran down the Cherry Creek Bike Path. By the end of my run, it was snowing so hard, I could only see about 20 feet in front of me. Fun times!